Blood-test prices range from $10 to $10,000, study says

Published 3:31 pm, Tuesday, August 19, 2014

BLOOD TESTS

Huge disparity in hospitals' prices

Prices for common blood tests ranged from as a little as $10 to more than $10,000 for the identical test at California hospitals, according to a UCSF study released last week.

Researchers looked at how much 150 hospitals around the state charged for 10 common blood tests. The tests included lipid panels, basic metabolic panels and complete blood counts with differential white blood cell counts.

Charges for the basic metabolic test ranged from $35 to $7,303, with a median charge of $214. The most extreme variations were found in the price of lipid panels, which cost as little as $10 but as much as $10,169, with a median charge of $220.

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The study's authors did find some patterns. Prices were generally lower at government and teaching hospitals. But they noted that factors such as location, labor costs, patient capacity and the percentage of uninsured patients at the hospitals didn't seem to play a role in the price differences.

The results, which researchers found alarming because the actual blood tests don't vary much from hospital to hospital, are part of a growing body of research into seemingly unexplainable price variations at California hospitals for various procedures and tests.

The report was published Friday in the online open-access medical journal BMJ Open.

SENSORY DISORDER

Brain's wiring different in kids with condition

Children with sensory processing disorder - a condition that can make them extra-sensitive to touch, sight or other stimulation - have distinctive differences in the wiring of their brains than youngsters with autism or those who are developing normally, according to a UCSF study.

Sensory processing disorder (SPD) often has been linked to autism, since so many children with autism experience problems taking in and processing outside stimulation. Parents and some clinicians have been trying for years to differentiate the two conditions, and the UCSF work provides some brain imaging evidence.

Scientists captured images from 16 boys with sensory processing disorder, 15 boys with autism and 23 boys with neither disorder. They used a form of magnetic resonance imaging that shows how areas of the brain are linked and the strength of those connections.

The boys with sensory processing disorder and the boys with autism both had decreased connectivity in parts of the brain that take in and interpret basic sensory information, but the SPD group had more striking decreases. And only the boys with autism had decreased connectivity in areas critical to processing emotions and reading facial cues.

The results could prove useful for future clinical trials of sensory processing disorder, to more clearly identify children to be studied and to narrow down the areas of the brain doctors should look at when trying to determine whether a treatment works.

AGING

Immune system may weaken at cellular level

UCSF researchers believe they've found the cellular mechanism that causes immune systems to weaken with age, increasing the risk of severe infection and illness.

Blood and immune system cells, produced by hematopoietic stem cells, have a shorter shelf life than most tissues - they have to be restocked more frequently. The cells that produce them lose some of their function with age, leading to lower quality and less efficient production. That, in turn, means weaker immune systems.

Declining stem cell function is a major factor in aging - and understanding how stem cells decline could lead to rejuvenation therapies and ultimately better longevity, said Emmanuelle Passegué, a UCSF professor of medicine who led the study, conducted on old mice.

Passegué hopes a drug can be developed to bolster aging stem cells' ability to replicate cells.

MEDICINE

Stanford scientists raise doubts on atrial fibrillation drug

New research has Stanford researchers questioning whether digoxin, a drug long used to treat atrial fibrillation, should be used at all.

Patients with atrial fibrillation, an irregular and sometimes rapid heart rate, were 1.2 times more likely to die if they were treated with digoxin than those who were not, they found. Digoxin slows heart rates, but doesn't normalize heart rhythms.

Researchers sifted through records from more than 120,000 U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs patients who had been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation. More than a fifth of them had been prescribed digoxin.

Those treated with digoxin were more likely to die regardless of their age, their use of other drugs like beta-blockers, amiodarone and warfarin, or other health issues like kidney or heart problems.

Since the veterans sample was mostly male, more research will be needed to determine whether the results are consistent for women, researchers noted.

Dr. Mintu Turakhia, an assistant professor of cardiology at Stanford who worked on the study, didn't rule out digoxin as a treatment, but suggested health care providers consider other options.

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